This invention relates to nonwoven fabrics for use in various personal care products such as diapers, training pants, adult incontinence products, feminine hygiene products, infection control products and any other type of article used to contain bodily fluids. More particularly, personal care products generally include containment flaps which serve to keep the managed fluids from escaping from the article and soiling the clothing or bedding of the wearer. These containment flaps are an especially well suited use for the disclosed invention.
In order for containment articles to function efficiently, the fabric must have sufficient barrier properties to perform its primary function of containing fluids, yet must also be breathable so as not to inhibit skin comfort. In personal care and infection control products the fabric should ideally be elastic to conform to the body of the wearer and recover from stretching due to the movement of the wearer, all the while continuing to perform its function as a barrier. In the past, containment flaps, for example, have been made with separate materials supplying the various functions desired. Elastic threads, for example, have been joined with non-elastic materials to supply the requisite elasticity. Other methods of attaching an elastic member to a non-elastic member to satisfy the requirements for a containment flap have also been used. While these attempts to solve the problem of breathability with barrier properties for an elastic member have been partially successful, there remains a need for a material which will have the needed barrier and breathability and which is fully elastic, i.e. all components of the material are elastic.
In infection control applications, such as in a medical gown, stretch and recovery properties are important in order to produce a more form fitting and hence more comfortable gown without extra fabric in the area of high stretch.
It is an object of this invention to provide a fully elastic, breathable, barrier nonwoven fabric which may be used in infection control and personal care products and which will be a comfortable and effective means of containing fluids within the article.